There are many attributes of Mr. Trump to praise and condemn.  His willingness to take on the crazy political correctness of the left today is both.  In some ways, he’s like Ross Perot of 20+ years ago; about half of what Mr. Perot said was so dead right on that it was incredible.  Unfortunately, the remaining 50% made you wonder if he should be institutionalized.  Remember the dirty Republican plan to destroy his daughter’s wedding?  I wouldn’t give Mr. Trump nearly Mr. Perot’s percentages in either direction; only some of what Mr. Trump says is spot on (like his denunciation of the $20T in debt Mr. Obama is leaving us with).  His call to kill the families of terrorists fits in the crazy category.

There is little support for Mr. Trump among your Berean bloggers; in fact he would be my last pick among the many candidates.  Yet if the nominee, I would likely vote for him, as alleged by at least one of our erstwhile readers.  Why?  The assertion by one reader is that we’re all a bunch of blind poodles doing what our team says.  Is that a fair characterization?

On one hand, I join in the condemnation of our political process which leads to many (to include myself occasionally) as seeing one side or the other almost as “our team” to root for.*  Political sport is what politics is all about for many people, and they refuse to consider the other side’s perspective at all.  Yet many, many Americans on both sides are deeply concerned about the country’s direction; as I noted many months ago, we’re only united in this country on one thing–that the country’s going in the wrong direction.  Mr. Trump plays this to both sides with his populist rhetoric, and it certainly captures both fearful Republicans and Democrats, as this Bloomberg article notes:

Diane Farmer, 54, is a lifelong Democrat from the New York City area now living in Palm Beach County, Fla. She attended Catholic schools and later belonged to unions while working for a phone company and then in a court clerk’s office. She voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. But Farmer says she’s never been more excited about a candidate than she is this time. Her choice? Donald Trump.

The convert to Trumpism shared her enthusiasm while stopping by glitzy Trump Tower on New York’s Fifth Avenue to pick up her fifth “Make America Great Again” cap (free with every $30 campaign contribution). “What he’s saying is what everybody’s thinking,” she said. “Too many people are getting free stuff. We should send the illegals out of the country. I want them off welfare and food stamps. Go home, and come back again when you’re ready to work.” As for the Middle East: “We should have dropped the bomb and ended the issue. We need to annihilate that, uh …,” she said, trailing off.

On the other hand, there are at least three reasons to be a “yellow dog” Republican.  First, for many of us with moral concerns, there is absolutely no way we can pull the trigger for a candidate that is the champion of the abortion movement.   The monstrous evil we have heard coming from Planned Parenthood is championed by the Democrats (and praised by Mr. Obama!) while allowed by the Republicans.  And of course, displaying the symbol of God’s covenant with humanity on the White House in celebration of same-sex marriage is yet another slap in the face.  Second, our system of government is set up for a two-party system–there is no stable multiple party equilibrium possible in systems of government that have “first past the post” winner-take-all elections, which is what we generally have (with some minor state exceptions).  Yes a third party can replace one of the two, but then you’re back to two.  Countries that have multiple parties allow minority positions to have some representation via proportional representation.  In our political system, this can’t happen so you need to increase the size of your coalition within a party.  So for those conservatives who are probably very angry at the budget cave-in, the solution cannot be to go third party**; you need to do the hard work of getting more conservative members in.

Third, and most importantly***, we need to stop thinking about a personality in the president.  No matter who we elect, we’re not going to get the right guy or gal–they are going to disappoint us.  For Christians especially, do not hope for a political savior.  The only one that will fit that category will not need your vote nor media support to assume power!  Rather what presidential elections are about is access and consideration of your views.  Let me use a name from the past to illustrate.  If Jim Dobson wants to speak to the president, will Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton take his phone call?  Will their cabinet secretaries?  The answer is no, and increasingly so as Mr. Obama is openly contemptuous of conservative Republicans.  With a Republican president–whoever that nominee is–conservative ideas have a chance to be implemented.   An attorney general in a Trump (or any other Republican administration) is likely to take the call from Russell Moore, for example.  That’s about the best we can hope for–a hearing and the potential to make some modest improvement. We have zero chance in a Clinton administration, there is at least some chance in any Republican administration.  To stay home because Republicans “aren’t conservative enough” or to go third party simply ensures that your worst fears are realized in a Democratic administration.  So most conservatives will likely hold their nose with whoever the Republican nominee is–even if its, gasp, the Democrat turned Republican Donald Trump.

*Actually it would be more appropriate to say many conservatives root against the Democratic party, and only reluctantly vote for the Republicans.  And to some degree this goes the other way as well.

** An important counter is that since an individual vote cannot matter in the determination of the election, your vote is best used to express your preferences.  The idea is that the Republicans will become more libertarian if the libertarian #s go up (to avoid losing more votes in the future).  Since God ultimately places people in power, our responsibility is to vote for the best candidate and not necessarily with who we think can win.  I don’t argue with people who think this way–but to be clear, their vote in this election is only potentially effective for the next election.

*** This point has been hammered home to me by a good friend, so no original thought from me.  But his point is well made so I’ll use it here.